La Kompanoj kantas Brel en esperanto, La Kompanoj's second album, is the first Esperanto musical album featuring Jacques Brel's songs.

Forty years after his death.Jacques Brel, the famous French-language poet and singer, now has an album of songs in Esperanto,
With FaMo (voice and accordion), Bernard Legeay (sousaphone), and Pjer Buvje (voice, banjo, guitar), plus various other members of La Kompanoj.
The album production was undertaken by The Company Duoble Unu, (administrator Franswaz Rochette, studio director Patrik Delabi).
In the translations, the style, the rhythm and the delivery of the original texts were respected without neglecting the musicality of Esperanto. The musical arrangements evoke the spirit of the original recordings.

About Jacques Brel

He was born in 1929 in a upper-class Belgian family. As a young man he worked in the family carton factory. Then he started to write, and interpreted his first songs accompanying himself on the guitar. In 1953 he moved to Paris with the purpose of meeting professional musicians and singers. After a difficult start, his success grew little by little. From 1957 to 1966 he was at the top of his fame, performing up to 300 times a year, mainly in Europe, but also on other continents, including the United States, in the famous Carnegie Hall. In 1966, at the height of his success, he decided to stop performing and said goodbye to his public. Later he wrote and recorded more songs, adapted the American musical about Don Quixote's life, "The Man of the Mancha" , acted, produced, and directed two films. In 1974 he studied ocean navigation, bought a sailboat, and sailed to a small island in the Pacific Ocean, where he lived until 1978.

About Brel's songs

Brel wrote more than two hundred songs, among which many are still familiar to the majority of French speakers and sung by various contemporary artists. His texts were written in high-level French, criticizing the hypocrisy of his era in "Ĉi ular' (Those people, Ces gens-là), "La flandrinoj" (The Flemish women, Les Flamandes); amusing songs about various of his contemporaries in "La bombonoj" (The sweets, Les bonbons), "La rempar' de Varsovi'" (The walls of Warsaw, Les remparts de Varsovie), "Ek! Sekvant'" (The Next One, Au suivant); poetically describing his Belgium in "La plata land'” (The flat country, Le plat pays); old age in "La olduloj" (The old people, Les vieux); and promoting universal love "Kiam restas am' nur" (When only love remains, Quand on n'a que l'amour). Two of his world-class songs are probably "Ne forlasu min" (Do not leave me, Ne me quitte pas), sung in French by Nina Simone or in English by Madonna, among others, and "Amsterdam", sung by David Bowie and others. Brel in Esperanto also contains songs from his earlier years, such as "Sur la placo" (On the square, Sur la place), "La diablo" (The devil, Le diable), and "Rigardu nepre ni" (We must look, Il nous faut regarder). A total of thirteen songs.

La Kompanoj in this album are:
- FaMo (Fabrice Morandeau): voice, accordion, project leader
- Pjer Tel Buvje (Pierre Bouvier): voice, guitar, banjo
- Bernard Legeay: sousaphone, introductory voice (8)

Guest musicians:
- Fred Galland: drums (3, 10, 12)
- Gérard Bouvarel: saxophone (3, 12)
- Serge-Éric Gasnier: guitar (2)
- Lionel Malric: piano (6)
- Patrik Delaby: drum, organ (8), small guitar (10), clock (11)

Translators:
Pjer Tel Bouvier, Bernard Legeay, FaMo, Janine Dumoulin, Jo-Petro Danvy, Marcelo Redoulez, Georges Lagrange, Michel Duc Goninaz, Silvjo Barrier, Serge Sire, Vito Markovo, Grésillon workshop, Brian Moon.

Revision and lay-out:  Franswaz Rochette and Muriel Lefort.

Project administration, sound studio, mastering: Kompanio Duoble Unu (Compagnie Double Un), Crest, France, www.doubleun.com.
Sound technician, artistic consultant: Patrik Delaby.

Administration, communication: Françoise Rochette.
Sleeve concept: Françoise Rochette, from a drawing by Pjer Tel Buvje.
Booklet graphics and lay-out: Françoise Rochette.
Photos: Muriel Lefort, Nadine Lemoine.